The metagame is the pinnacle of excellence for every player craving for the number one spot. It is the difference between the mindless run-and-gunner and the professional gamer. I rarely cite the UrbanDictionary, but I believe their definition is the easiest to understand: "...metagame refers to any aspect of strategy that involves thinking about what your opponent is thinking you are thinking." First, be your opponent and think of ways s/he can defeat you. Next, find the best means of countering this. Since there may be endless ways of defeating you, pick the counter-strategy that counters your opponent’s best/most practical attack. Always fight your opponent’s best strategies.

Most people involuntarily use the metagame out of common sense, but they quickly exhaust its usefulness by only understanding it at a shallow level. Most people play games out to a routine of trial-and-error. To some degree, there is truth in playing a game repetitively. This allows the player to understand the mechanics of the game and understand the relatively flow of the game. However, this is only the basic understanding of the game. If a player wants to be truly excellent at a game, they must also understand what his/her opponent can do and what the player can do to counter his/her opponent. This takes an intimate understanding of both the game’s mechanics and the behavior of the other player. Keep in mind, you do not need to be a mind reader; you simply have to realize your opponents best strategy for defeating you and finding a way to counter it. Again, always fight against your opponents best strategies!

Metagaming is prevalent in any game. The only difference is if your opponent is another player, AI or even an obstacle. Most people attribute the FPS genre with players who are mindless run-and-gunners. However, for top-tier players you can see that there is a whole lot more going on in the gamer’s mind than most people think. All multiplayer player-versus-player games require book-loads of information in only a few minutes of combat.

A simple instance of using the metagame:

>>>>(TL;DR NOTE: You don't need to necessarily read this section. The point of this section is to show how complex metagaming is. It will help you understand how to properly use it, and this section may improve your own metagame. Skip over to the Conclusion)<<<<

You're low on health and your opponent has full health. You are moving from towards the left side of the rock (which is what you are already closest to) and your opponent is 3 seconds behind you. You both have the same weapon, which means you will take 3 seconds to defeat your opponent and s/he will take 1 second to defeat you. You have no grenades, s/he may have a grenade. You have regenerating health and it will take you 5 seconds to heal. You're retreating towards a large circular rock in front of you. Nobody can jump over the rock. There is no other means for escaping; this rock is your only cover and retreating choice. What will you do?

Let’s Break It Down:

What you should realize:

+You're low on health and your opponent has full health = there is a high chance your opponent will chase you. What you should do considering the situation so far: You should keep running because they will chase you. However, this is only the beginning. Read on to the next situation.

+You are moving from towards the left side of the rock (which is what you are already closest to) and your opponent is 3 seconds behind you = you are too far away from your opponent. S/he will realize chasing you from behind will result in the lowest probability of killing you. S/he will either wait for you to come back out or s/he will intercept you from the right side of the rock. What you should do considering the situation so far (include the above notes): Caution the enemy approaching the right side of the rock. Keep this as a mental note because now you know you could go behind the rock for 2 seconds and then come back out exactly where you came because your opponent is moving towards the right side of the rock. This will grant you a chance to escape or attack from behind. However, they could also be waiting on the outside for your to return from either direction. Read on to the next situation.

+You both have the same weapon, which means you will take 3 seconds to defeat your opponent and s/he will take 1 second to defeat you = You should know that your opponent knows this. That means they will not expect you to hide behind the rock and come back exactly where you were last at immediately. Instead, they will expect you to keep running. What you should do considering the situation so far (include the above notes): You could come right back out from the left after hiding for 1 second (not 2 seconds as described above – yes this time difference is huge). However, they only need 1 second to kill you versus your 3 seconds to kill them. This is highly disadvantageous but it could be your only chance to survive. Alternatively, you can continue going around the rock in hopes they won’t intercept you from the right. Read on to the next situation.

+You have no grenades, s/he may have a grenade. = you should always assume they have a grenade, unless you are fully certain they do not. Knowing this will determine if you should wait and stay behind the right to prevent being grenaded from the rear or being intercepted on the other side of the rock with a pre-nade (pre-nade: a grenade thrown to predict the movement of another player). For this example, let’s say s/he has a grenade. S/he may throw a grenade behind you (to prevent your retreat) and s/he may wait or charge you on the other side. Alternatively, a grenade can be thrown on the right side while your opponent waits for you to retreat. What you should do considering the situation so far (include the above notes): Now should you wait behind the rock momentarily before deciding to move either direction. You should caution a pre-nade. Don’t keep moving because they are timing you. Make sure to pause and move cautiously on your next decision; either route could be trapped with a grenade. Read on to the next situation.

+You have regenerating health and it will take you 5 seconds to heal = If s/he were to continue following you directly from behind s/he will never catch up and you will eventually regain health. Therefore, there is a low probability they will merely continue chasing you with the same approach. There is a high probability s/he will try to cut you off on the right. What you should do considering the situation so far (include the above notes): This is a key factor for your survival. Considering the above situations, play everything out cautiously. Allowing your health to regenerate is your most practical means for survival. Your opponent should also know this, therefore s/he may not wait outside the rock for you but s/he will desperately chase you from the right - with a low probability s/he will chase from the left (a.k.a behind you) because of the situations described above. Conclusively, there is a low probability your opponent will be behind you but be sure to use extreme caution for pre-nades and being intercepted from the right. Read on to the next situation.

+You're retreating towards a large circular rock in front of you. Nobody can jump over the rock = since it takes time to traverse around the rock, there is little reason your opponent will stay behind you. This is a large circular rock and there are only two routes to take. Expect them to cut you off from the other side. What you should do considering the situation so far (include the above notes): This eliminates another possible route your opponent can take to kill you. However, still consider that there is a low probability your opponent will be behind you but be sure to use extreme caution for pre-nades and being intercepted from the right. Your best bet is to let your health recharge! Read on to the next situation.

+ There is no other means for escaping; this rock is your only cover and retreating choice = your opponent should realize this and they could do two things (with all else above considered); they could wait outside the rock for you to circle around the rock or they could move to the right of the rock to intercept you circling around the rock from the left.

Conclusion: What you should do considering the situation so far (include all the above notes):

***The Factors:

+Your opponent is going to chase you because you’re low on health and s/he has full health.

+Your opponent will wait for you or intercept you because you are too far away to merely chase from behind.

+Your opponent will be more convinced to wait for you or intercept you because you will take 3 seconds to kill him/her and s/he will only take 1 second to kill you.

+Your opponent will try to pre-nade you because it will narrow your options for escape while enhancing his/her attempt of catching you.

+Your opponent will be aggressive and try to intercept you because players should account for regenerating health. This will reduce the chances of him/her merely waiting outside the rock for you.

+Your opponent has only two routes for cutting you off because nobody can jump over the rock.

+Your opponent will surely try to cut you off because there are no other means for you to retreat besides the rock.

***Your options:

Highest probability for survival: Move behind the rock and wait for 2 seconds. At this time, grenades should be going off in either direction…

++…If a grenade is at your rear, expect him/her to be intercepting you or waiting for you. Next, if s/he has not already intercepted you from the right, poke out from your rear to see if s/he is waiting – s/he should be. If s/he is, hide behind the rock and for the last 2 seconds for your health to recharge but be aware they will no longer wait for you.

++…Alternatively, if a grenade is at the other end of the rock, expect him/her to be intercepting you or waiting for you. Just like above, play it out cautiously. The point is to regain your health because your defensive measures granted you the time to survive.

+++What if s/he had two grenades? Use the same principle of waiting and poking out. Knowing where your opponent is at is key to buying yourself time to regain health.

High probability for survival: Move behind the rock and wait for 2 seconds. At this time, grenades should be going off in either direction. Then move out towards the right side of the rock. Before the grenades went off, s/he expected you to come out from the right. But now that you didn’t do that immediately, your whereabouts are unknown and this will grant you a small element of surprise. Poking out from the right will surprise your opponent because it’s what they expected of you in the beginning but due to the lull of your movements it places doubts on them.

Medium probability for survival: Move behind the rock and wait for 2 seconds and immediately come back from where you came from to attack him/her from the rear. Waiting this two seconds will ensure you to get the first 1-2 seconds of combat damage. This will surprise them, but with proper care the fight will be a draw or you may lose.

Lowest probability: Move behind the rock, wait 1 second, and pop out for a surprise counter attack. However, you did not wait long enough. Therefore, your opponent will easily kill you by waiting for you. This is what most opponents could expect of you. However, your opponent may underestimate this tactic and you could get lucky.

Death: Move behind the rock and continue around towards the right side of the rock. This is the first and main thing your opponent is predicting of you. They will surely pre-nade you and you are generally just an easy kill because you did not allow a single lull in your movements to throw off the pace in combat.

Conclusion

This was only a simple example of how people use the metagame. Yes, just a simple example. As you can tell there is a lot to learn in order to be truly great at any game. As with everything: practice, practice, practice. First learn the mechanics of the game; how fast can you run, how many shots can you take, how many shots can you land, how big is a particular grenade’s explosion, etc! Next, play against better players whenever possible. You will learn what strategies they use to defeat you. Mimic these strategies, but do not let it be an end to your means! Additionally, the strategies they use will be the kind of strategies you should constantly try to counter; the better the strategy you can think of countering the harder you are to defeat. However, it took me 300-500 hours to fully connect the mindset behind metagaming and the game’s mechanics. Getting used to the game’s mechanics will give you much less to think about. It must become an instinct first, but do not let this make you become a machine. Let this free your mind so you can focus your thoughts of the spontaneity of your opponent(s) actions. Remember, true metagaming is extremely difficult. It’s what few people have and what all professional gamers use. It will take a lot of time, but once you acquire it it will be easier to apply to all games. Practice, practice, practice. Play better and better opponents. Try new things. Do not be let down by countless losses because that’s where metagaming can be understand best. If you lose a million times, you will know a million ways to be unbeatable. That is, if you allow yourself to learn from your mistakes ;)